Jesus, the founder of Christianity?

Some words of Paul Tillich from "The Shaking of the foundations"... not a challenge to agree or disagree... just a challenge to reflect...

Jesus is not the creator of another religion, but the victor over religion; He is not the maker of another law, but the conqueror of law. We, the ministers and teachers of Christianity, do not call you to Christianity but rather to the New Being to which Christianity should be a witness and nothing else, not confusing itself with that New Being. Forget all Christian doctrines; forget your own certainties and your own doubts, when you hear the call of Jesus. Forget all Christian morals, your achievements and your failures, when you come to Him. Nothing is demanded of you, no idea of God, and no goodness in yourselves, not your being religious, not your being Christian, not your being wise, and not your being moral. But what is demanded is only your being open and willing to accept what is given to you, the New Being, the being of love and justice and truth, as it is manifest in Him Whose yoke is easy and Whose burden is light...

...Do not ask in this moment what we shall do or how action shall follow from the New Being, from the rest m our souls. Do not ask; for you do not ask how the good fruits follow from the goodness of a tree. They follow; action follows being, and new action, better action, stronger action, follows new being, better being, stronger being. We and our world would be better, truer, and more just, if there were more rest for souls in our world. Our actions would be more creative, more conquering, conquering the tragedy of our time, if they grew out of a more profound level of our life. For our creative depth is the depth in which we are quiet.

Technorati Tags: Emerging Church: Mission: Religion: theology

Comments

[sushil_yadav]

[I've edited this comment, because I think it's bad netiquette to post large chunks of articles as a comment, but it is relevant so the links are below... Mark]

The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.

The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment...

To read the complete article please follow either of these links :

http://www.planetsave.com/ps_mambo/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=75&func=view&id=68&catid=6

http://www.earthnewswire.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=89&page=viewtopic&t=11

sushil_yadav

[juli]

mmm...i like this.

and i am so glad to have friends that i know are thinking of us. thank you mark berry...your kind words are much appreciated.

[ron]

Wow! what a beautiful quote Mark...such clarity in such profound simplicity. Thanks...Ron+

[Existential Punk]

WOW! I am going to post this right now on my blog! Thank you! Adele

[Matt Stone]

Mark. Be aware that some critics of Christianity have charged that Paul was the creator of it rather than Jesus.

To sharpen this line of thought in today's cultural context you really need to extend this to show Paul was not trying to create a 'religion' either, lest you inadvertantly confirm the imagined wedge between the two in the thoughts on non-Christian readers.

[Mark]

Good observation Matt, though I think that debate is somewhat 'passed it's sell-by date' in the UK... interestingly I went to a debate between A.N. Wilson and Tom Wright on this very subject a few years back (I guess around 10years ago) Wilson argued that Paul had founded Christianity and that Jesus was a powerfully prophetic itinerant Rabbi, but had never intended to be considered the Messiah... the debate was pretty poor as they really couldn't find any common starting point, so they just spoke past each other... Wilson arguments seemed (if I remember correctly) to be hung on the Eucharist as a rite.

I guess I would reflect initially, that the pattern of mission (church planting?) that I see Paul advocating is one based on seeding indigenous expressions and communities rather than a didactic and imposed religious model 'coming down' from the Jerusalem Church. So I guess I would say that neither was 'founding' A Religion but seeking to enable others in community to seek for God in everyday life and each other and to transform culture and society from within not without... but I would really need to think a bit more before being too categoric... maybe something to think about?